Bernie Sanders Knocks Donald Trump’s Scapegoating Strategy

20151209 Bernie Sanders Interview Donald Trump Scapegoating Strategy Rachel Madowm (MSMbc)(06m40s).jpg Bernie Sanders Knocks Donald Trump’s Scapegoating Strategy
By Rachel Maddow, YouTube, MSNBC

(Dec. 9, 2015) — Senator Bernie Sanders, Democratic candidate for president, talks with Rachel Maddow about Republican front-runner Donald Trump’s extreme views on Muslims in America, and what Trump’s supporters are attracted to in him as a candidate.

“Ever since Donald Trump has been opening his mouth, you’re seeing all these bitter people, demagogues, latent racists become emboldened. You’re seeing some ugly stuff happening around this country. I know you`re angry. And you know what? You should be angry because you`re working longer hours for low wages.

We’ve got millions of people who are in trouble today. People are hurting. They’re struggling. They’re fearful and confused. They are anxious on a number of levels. We have people with two or three jobs, worried to death about their children, worried about their own retirement. The cost of everything, from college tuition to prescription drugs, has gone up and people aren’t getting paid a living wage.

What’s the cause of their problems? Who is their enemy? Is it Wall Street? Is it Big Money? Or Big Pharma? Is it massive inequality in terms of wealth and income?
Why do you keep voting for people who are giving more tax breaks to billionaires, who are going to send your jobs abroad, not going to let you form a union, not going to allow your kids to go to college?

Because they pick out a victim whether it`s Blacks, whether it`s gays, whether it`s women, whether it`s immigrants, whether it`s Muslims who we can pick on. We can’t allow racism and xenophobia to gain traction.

Don’t go to the dark side. Don’t take it out on the Muslims or Latinos. Don’t go bashing immigrants or refugees or African-Americans. We’ve got to stand with the people who are being attacked today. We’ve got to stand up to the people who are so angry, so hateful.

Try to help us work together to create a country where your kids and you can have a decent standard of living. We’re going to fight to give you that. It has to be a bold and radical agenda, a political movement that will make your life better, not just other people’s lives worse.”
– Bernie Sanders

FOR PEOPLE WHO KEEP CRITICIZING AND ASKING WHAT HE HAS ACHIEVED IN LIFE-

~Elected by the state of Vermont 8 times to serve in the House of Representatives.
~The longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history.
~He was dubbed the “amendment king” in the House of Representatives for passing more amendments than any other member of Congress.
~Ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee.
~Former student organizer for the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
~Led the first ever civil rights sit-in in Chicago history to protest segregated housing.
~In 1963, Bernie Sanders participated in MLK’s Civil Rights March. One of only 2 sitting US Senators to have heard MLK’s “I have a Dream Speech” in person in the march on Washington, DC.
~Former professor of political science at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and at Hamilton College.
~Former mayor of Burlington, VT. In a stunning upset in 1981, Sanders won the mayoral race in Burlington, Vermont’s largest city. He shocked the city’s political establishment by defeating a six-term, local machine mayor.
Burlington is now reported to be one of the most livable cities in the nation.
~Co-founded the Congressional Progressive Caucus and chaired the group for its first 8 years.
~Both the NAACP and the NHLA (National Hispanic Leadership Agenda) have given Sanders 100% voting scores during his tenure in the Senate. Earns a D- from the NRA.

1984: Mayor Sanders established the Burlington Community Land Trust, the first municipal housing land trust in the country for affordable housing. The project becomes a model emulated throughout the world. It later wins an award from Jack Kemp-led HUD.

1991: one of a handful in Congress to vote against authorizing US military force in Iraq. “I have a real fear that the region is not going to be more peaceful or more stable after the war,” he said at the time.

1992: Congress passes Sanders’ first signed piece of legislation to create the National Program of Cancer Registries. A Reader’s Digest article calls the law “the cancer weapon America needs most.” All 50 states now run registries to help cancer researchers gain important insights.

November 1993: Sanders votes against the Clinton-era North American Free Trade Agreement. Returning from a tour of factories in Mexico, Sanders says: “If NAFTA passes, corporate profits will soar because it will be even easier than now for American companies to flee to Mexico and hire workers there for starvation wages.”

July 1996: Sanders is one of only 67 (out of 435, 15%) votes against the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act, which denied federal benefits to same-sex couples legally married. Sanders urged the Supreme Court to throw out the law, which it did in a landmark 2013 ruling – some 17 years later.

July 1999: Standing up against the major pharmaceutical companies, Sanders becomes the first member of Congress to personally take seniors across the border to Canada to buy lower-cost prescription drugs. The congressman continues his bus trips to Canada with a group of breast cancer patients the following April. These brave women are able to purchase their medications in Canada for almost one-tenth the price charged in the States.
But that didn’t change the discourse about the price of pharmaceuticals in.

August 1999: An overflow crowd of Vermonters packs a St. Michael’s College town hall meeting hosted by Sanders to protest an IBM plan to cut older workers’ pensions by as much as 50 percent. CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and The New York Times cover the event. After IBM enacts the plan, Sanders works to reverse the cuts, passing a pair of amendments to prohibit the federal government from acting to overturn a federal district court decision that ruled that IBM’s plan violated pension age discrimination laws. Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, IBM agreed to a $320 million legal settlement with some 130,000 IBM workers and retirees.

November 1999: About 10 years before the 2008 Wall Street crash spins the world economy into a massive recession, Sanders votes “no” on a bill to undo decades of financial regulations enacted after the Great Depression. “This legislation,” he predicts at the time, “will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers, increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses, diminished credit for rural America and taxpayer exposure to potential losses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers, a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry and further concentration of power in our country.” The House passed the bill 362-57 over Sanders’ objection.

October 2001: Sanders votes against the USA Patriot Act. “All of us want to protect the American people from terrorist attacks, but in a way that does not undermine basic freedoms,” Sanders says at the time. He subsequently votes against reauthorizing the law in 2006 and 2011.

October 2002: Sanders votes against the Bush-Cheney war in Iraq. He warns at the time that an invasion could “result in anti-Americanism, instability and more terrorism.” Hillary Clinton votes in favor of it.
(But hey, Hillary has said she’s sorry, what’s the big deal? It’s not like the US invasion of Iraq caused anything for us to worry about. It was just a vote. And now Hillary has all that experience traveling in airplanes around the world.)

November 2006: Sanders defeats Vermont’s richest man, Rich Tarrant, to be elected to the U.S. Senate. Sanders, running as an Independent, is endorsed by the Vermont Democratic Party and supported by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

December 2007: Sanders’ authored energy efficiency and conservation grant program passes into law. He later secures $3.2 billion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the grant program.

September 2008: Thanks to Sanders’ efforts, funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program funding doubles, helping millions of low-income Americans heat their homes in winter.

February 2009: Sanders works with Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley to pass an amendment to an economic recovery bill preventing Wall Street banks that take taxpayer bailouts from replacing laid-off U.S. workers with exploited and poorly-paid foreign workers.

December 2009: Sanders passes language in the Affordable Care Act to allow states to apply for waivers to implement pilot health care systems by 2017. The legislation allows states to adopt more comprehensive systems to cover more people at lower costs.

March 2010: President Barack Obama signs into law the Affordable Care Act with a major Sanders provision to expand federally qualified community health centers. Sanders secures $12.5 billion in funding for the program which now serves more than 25 million Americans. Another $1.5 billion from a Sanders provision went to the National Health Service Corps for scholarships and loan repayment for doctors and nurses who practice in under-served communities.

July 2010: Sanders works with Republican Congressman Ron Paul in the House to pass a measure as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform bill to audit the Federal Reserve, revealing how the independent agency gave $16 trillion in near zero-interest loans to big banks and businesses after the 2008 economic collapse.

March 2013: Sanders, now chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and backed by seniors, women, veterans, labor unions and disabled Americans, leads a successful effort to stop a “chained-CPI” proposal supported by Congressional Republicans and the Administration to cut Social Security and disabled veterans’ benefits.

April 2013: Sanders introduces legislation to break up major Wall Street banks so large that the collapse of one could send the overall economy into a downward spiral.

August 2014: A bipartisan $16.5 billion veterans bill written by Sen. Sanders, Sen. John McCain and Rep. Jeff Miller is signed into law by President Barack Obama. The measure includes $5 billion for the VA to hire more doctors and health professionals to meet growing demand for care.

January 2015: Sanders takes over as ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, using the platform to fight for his economic agenda for the American middle class.

January 2015: Sanders votes against the Keystone XL pipeline which would allow multinational corporation TransCanada to transport dirty tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

March 2015: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation to expand benefits and strengthen the retirement program for generations to come.
The Social Security Expansion Act was filed on the same day Sanders and other senators received the petitions signed by 2 million Americans, gathered by the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

September 2015: Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) and Rep. Bobby L. Rush (D-Ill.) today introduced bills to ban private prisons, reinstate the federal parole system and eliminate quotas for the number of immigrants held in detention.

January 2016: Sanders Places Hold on FDA Nominee Dr. Robert Califf because of his close ties to the pharmaceutical industry and lack of commitment to lowering drug prices. There is no reason to believe that he would make the FDA work for ordinary Americans, rather than just the CEOs of pharmaceutical companies.

THE ISSUES THAT MATTER & HOW BERNIE WILL PAY FOR HIS PROPOSALS-

https://berniesanders.com/issues/
http://feelthebern.org/all-issues/

Choose Bernie Sanders, not demagogue Donald Trump or oligarch Hillary Clinton!
Don’t #MakeAmericaHateAgain

#FeelTheBern #Bernie2016 #NotMeUs #ImWithHer #MakeAmericaGreatAgain #DonaldTrump #Trump #DonaldDrumpf #Drumpf #MakeDonaldDrumpfAgain #BernieSanders

Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions to the Clintons (theAtlantic)

20150731 Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions (theAtlantic).jpg Hillary Helps a Bank—and Then It Funnels Millions to the Clintons
by Conor Friedersdorf

The ATLANTIC (Jul. 31, 2015) — The Wall Street Journal’s eyebrow-raising story of how the presidential candidate and her husband accepted cash from UBS without any regard for the appearance of impropriety that it created.

The Swiss bank UBS is one of the biggest, most powerful financial institutions in the world. As secretary of state, Hillary Clinton intervened to help it out with the IRS. And after that, the Swiss bank paid Bill Clinton $1.5 million for speaking gigs. The Wall Street Journal reported all that and more Thursday in an article that highlights huge conflicts of interest that the Clintons have created in the recent past.

Full Article.

Is Charlie Hebdo Massacre Massive Military, Police Response Precedent Setting Opportunity?

ATLANTA (Jan. 13, 2015) — The Charlie Hebdo massacre which took place Jan. 7 in Paris, France took the lives of 12 people and seriously injured 11. In the days that followed the massacre, the local government administered an unprecedented massive military and police response upon its civilian population.

In the interest of security, the New York Times reported today, “France Deploys Troops to Guard ‘Sensitive Sites’,”:

“Confronting a country in shock from last week’s terrorist attacks, the French government acted on Monday to increase security, sending thousands of soldiers and police officers to guard sites considered vulnerable, including Jewish schools, and calling for measures to reinforce electronic surveillance and curb jihadist recruitment in prisons and other crucibles of radicalization.”

What measures would be imposed next? Curfews, no movement after dark, internet and cell phone blackouts. The catastrophic event would most likely require a complete electronic database save and search of everyone’s electronic communications for the past five years?

Yet, because the civilian population was essentially still “stunned” by the tragic event, the governmental imposition in order to provide “security” took place without resistance. Understandably, the citizens were just too busy being human experiencing their grief, anger and fear. Making them highly susceptible to being manipulated, a condition permitting the unprecedented military response to successfully be deployed and indeed welcomed.

Taking advantage of a “dazed and tragedy consumed” citizenry is not unheard of practice. The opportunistic intervention of both private and governmental entities is discussed in depth by Neomi Klein in her book, “The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.”

In the Shock Doctrine, Klein discusses the manner in which corporate interests capitalize in collaboration with applicable and consenting governments during disastrous times such as tsunamis, hurricanes, mass murders, and of course, times of war.

“The architects of this [Iraq 2003] invasion were firm believers in the shock doctrine — they knew that while Iraqis were consumed with daily emergencies, the country could be auctioned off discreetly and the results announced as a done deal,” Klein writes. She adds, “As for journalists and activists, we seemed to be exhausting our attention on the spectacular physical attacks, forgetting that the parties with the most to gain never show up on the battlefield.”

Here, the Hebdo mass murder was the “shocking” event. At which time the applicable government, or multiple governments operating from the same protectionism game book, launched into action an unprecedented intrusion of military and law enforcement assets into the civilian landscape.

Using predictable human emotional responses to their advantage, unprecedented governmental intrusion was able to be deployed in response to the Hebdo massacre.

In looking at the fine print, the enhanced security applied in response to the Hebdo massacre arguably allowed for: 1) the imposition of governmental intrusion upon the civilian sector’s privacy and living spaces; 2) the establishment of a response precedent to be referred to during similar future situations; and 3) the behind the scenes capitalization by private companies arranged to profit off of said intervention through exclusive contracts for goods and services needed for such intervention.

Goods and services would include the weapons, vehicles, surveillance apparatus, electronics and other equipment, to include ongoing service contracts for said equipment, however narrowly rationalized to be needed by the respective requesting agencies. This would also include any human personnel assets such as private security personnel, similar to the non-military security services provided by the private company Blackwater in Iraq.

Russell Brand Takes Baton as the Noam Chomsky for the 20 Something

Noam Chomsky (left) Photo by Andrew Rusk and Russell Brand photo by Dan Kitwood (CC BY 2.0)

Noam Chomsky (left) photo by Andrew Rusk. Russell Brand photo by Dan Kitwood (CC BY 2.0)

ATLANTA (Dec. 25, 2014) — After discovering Noam Chomsky only a few years ago, it was a challenge to find every presentation of his to watch.

Fortunately there is a website which has harvested many of Chomsky’s work at http://www.chomsky.info/.

After reviewing Chomsky’s considerable material one begins to understand how Russell Brand has arguably taken on many of the roles that Chomsky has been doing for most of his life.

Chomsky, now in his golden years, emanates these days as a ship weathered by many years at sea. However, still seaworthy, the port is near.

Chomsky’s vigor, energy, and lust for “factualization” of the events in the world around us, helped us understand that there are narratives out there being hurled out at us like fire balls at a castle.

With 8,818,326 followers, and 868,967 (updated Dec. 26, 2014 13:29 EST) subscribers on his Twitter Page and YouTube Channel respectively, it is clear that segments in today’s society have tipped their hat to Brand.

As evidenced in his book “Revolution” chapter 30 “Manifest Destiny” Brand makes it clear he will continue that which has already been started by Chomsky.

On the issue of society, power and government, Brand quotes Chomsky, “For this reason alone, it is imperative to sweep away the ideological clouds and face honestly and realistically the question of how policy decisions are made, and what we can do to alter them before it is too late.” In response, Brand writes, “I’ll take it from here.”

As Chomsky’s wave brings him into the shoreline, in the background we see, Russell Brand feverishly paddling on his Trews logo riddled surfboard trying to get in front of the mounting wake lurking beneath him.

In just this year Brand has managed to paddle his board in front of that wave. And then, he has accomplished to push himself up on his Trews surfboard.

He then has shuffled a bit, to the left and then to the right. Then he finally gained his composure to begin the ride in front of the wave unrelentingly crashing down around him. Much like the thundering skyscraper waves of the North Shore.

In his hand, can you see it? It’s the baton handed to him metaphorically by Chomsky. He takes it, with all the zest one could ever hope for. Brand then threads a strap through it and loops it first over his flaring wild hair then to have it settle around his neck. All the time being sprayed with a hundred mile an hour ocean mist.

Alas, he wipes the stinging salty water from his face, and with a piercing gaze not unlike that of a Great White shark locking in on its prey, Brand fixes in on the shore of societal unrest fast approaching.

We look forward to Brand’s eventual arrival after having ridden, perhaps many waves to finally reach the shore we stand. Gazing with curiosity, amazement and inspiration, we realize a sense of clarity of perspective.

The sun rises, then fades into a gently disappearing sunset.

A loud crash is heard, and the brightness of our view begins to reveal Brand now trotting through the shin deep water, holding only half of a surfboard and a severed bungee cord. The other half of the board is seen blowing violently across the white-wash receding back into the ocean, leaving a highly reflective sheen across the sand.

At that moment, we expect and receive the usual remarks from Brand recounting his journey of what was, and what can be, in his unique and Trewsish manner.

As the camera cranes upward opening the frame from Brand to a reveal of the crowds around him and ocean and shoreline in the distance, in the corner we notice his white fury companion, running to greet him.

After holding the shot with a distant sunset and glimmer over the waves below, the image fades to black.

The sound of an ocean surf then is heard as the credits begin to roll.

Oh, and by the way:

Russell Brand, will you please . . .

ANSWER THE QUESTION!!!

Noam Chomsky (left) photo by Andrew Rusk. Russell Brand photo by Dan Kitwood (CC BY 2.0)

Noam Chomsky (left) photo by Andrew Rusk. Russell Brand photo by Dan Kitwood (CC BY 2.0)

Police Back Turning Reveals SerpicoGate Moment at Hospital

Cops turn their backs on visiting Mayor de Blasio at  Woodhull Hospital. Captured by WPIX11 News.

Cops turn their backs on visiting Mayor de Blasio at Woodhull Hospital. Captured by WPIX11 News.

ATLANTA (Dec. 21, 2014) — The decision police officers made Saturday to turn their backs on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio during his visit at Woodhull Hospital to pay respects to two slain officers demonstrated an abuse of the public trust and powers granted upon them to the highest order. Further demonstrating the lack of discipline in the police force requiring prompt, immediate punitive action.

Each and every one of them should be summarily dismissed from the police force.

Their behavior of turning their backs on the Mayor was nothing more than rogue cops lashing out at authority. And when those entrusted with certain state powers, use their position as a forum to lash out, immediate action needs to be taken.

Wearing the uniform comes with it certain privileges and responsibilities. And clearly, those police officers do not deserve to wear the uniform any longer, and probably didn’t deserve to put it on in the first place. Especially when they are prepared to take matters into their own hands and lash out politically as they did.

Using that opportunity to voice their disapproval only exemplifies what’s been happening in the streets when kids, and unarmed citizens get killed by their hands.

A form of defiance in the highest form.

What’s next? Like at the hospital, the officers have demonstrated they are prepared to turn their backs in the face of authority in order to demonstrate their personal feelings and prejudices they may have at a situation, and here against an individual, the Mayor of all people.

And if they are prepared to turn their backs against the Mayor, they are prepared to turn their backs in the line of duty in some dark alley somewhere facing a lone black man in the corner when no cameras are around. That’s right.

What is next? Will those same back turning cops turn their backs at a critical moment when required to perform their duties, resulting in yet another injustice occurring on the street?

Will those cops turn their backs when they are required to follow criminal procedure, abide by the Constitution of the United States?

Will those cops turn their backs when having to provide backup to another cop who may not agree with their rogue political agenda while in uniform?

What happened at that hospital was a Serpico moment to the 10th degree. In plain view of the public, the media and national television.

Wearing the uniform comes with it sacrifice, discipline. Clearly these police officers demonstrated a lack of both of these inherent qualities.

They failed the responsibility that their public office requires them to demonstrate. Responsibilities which were transferred to them, entrusted upon them. Responsibilities to be faithfully administered when wearing the uniform.

As a person who wears the uniform in the military, it would be unheard of to see rows of Soldiers turning their backs on a visiting senior ranking member of their chain of command passing by. Disgust and repulsion. Those are the tastes left in one’s mouth after viewing the spectacle demonstrated by these volatile individuals.

The police officers who turned their backs on the Mayor are entrusted to use lethal force while performing their jobs. When they signed up for the job, they also understood they relinquished various individual freedoms in order to uphold a position in law enforcement.

They to an oath to uphold the laws in the state of New York and to follow the orders placed upon them from their chain of command. Much like that of military personnel under the President of the United States.

Imagine if the President visited Iraq and walked down an isle to reach a podium to give a speech about the war. Then, at that moment, Soldiers, in an act of retaliation and protest, turned their backs to him in defiance. Do you think for a minute those Soldiers would be permitted to continue to wear that uniform one second further?

The officers and those who encouraged them to retaliate and lash out during Mayor de Blasio’s visit should all be summarily dismissed from their jobs and never be able to hold a position wearing any uniform. They have thoughtfully betrayed the office and uniform they were entrusted to wear with full contempt and disrespect.

If there ever was a division between law enforcement, or the “Police” and members who serve in the military, this was it.

Russell Brand: ‘Democracy is a gleaming Excalibur, let us not just settle for . . . using it to mend the toaster’

“Democracy is a gleaming Excalibur, let us not just settle for . . . using it to mend the toaster.”

Russell Brand, Oct. 2014

@ 22m25s, GuardianLive Interview by Owen Jones at the Emmanuel Centre, London. (http://youtu.be/JduqBw2jIbo) Oct. 23, 2014.

The Grey of Righteous Suffering and Violence

As inspired by the article and subsequent comment by RoadToad: Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro found hanged after one month in jail

In response to the above linked article regarding a convicted torturer and rapist of three teenage girls for over ten years, RoadToad shared is comment below:

RoadToad 04 September 2013 11:13am

I haven’t read everything here, its too toxic, depressing and repetitive (on the whole) .. but I get the general drift. He was a horrible man and did dreadful things… but I do not get the ‘serves him right’, ‘coward for not being able to take what he dished out’ etc etc eye-for-an-eye-lynch-mob mentality. HOW does it help to make a human suffer for the wrong they have done? If he is locked up forever and is no longer a danger to anyone, why does it matter?? Why do YOU feel better because he is suffering? It is a primitive emotion and does not stand up to any sort of logical scrutiny.

As far as dignity from the bereaved goes, I point people in the direction of the father of Tim Lane, the Australian who was recently randomly murdered in the USA.
He was not concerned with revenge – his son was dead and nothing would change that. He simply stated ‘Nothing good can come of this’. How humbling…. I hold a – very faint – hope that some vengeful people will be affected by that sentiment and change their views, thereby making him, beautifully, wrong.

The below inspired thoughts were formulated.

To accept the suffering of another under the banner that such suffering be imposed based on it being justified, meaningful, directed, appropriate, proportionate, deserving, responsive, or any other motivation, establishes and validates such suffering onto another.

Given such directed, self-justified suffering, imposed onto another, as that in the subject of this article, it may be spiritually required to recoil morally..

It is common that those who imposed such unqualified suffering or violence onto another did so without proper moral authority. Perhaps these perpetrators may be deemed evil, cruel, or unknowing of their behavior.

As such, a perpetrator, as the subject of this article is deemed to be, may be subjected to said suffering and violence by those who deem themselves worthy and qualified to impose such suffering and violence onto another with righteous standing.

Society currently finds itself experiencing the impact of such self-qualified righteous imposition of suffering and violence which has been yielded upon it in the forms of mass destruction and murder.

To dismiss the practice of righteous suffering and violence, is to purge the stench of death from co-existing with the soul.

For life is life, and death is death. To combine the two results in exacting neither. A perpetual state of grey.

As to the subject of this article. If the circumstances presented are as revealed, then he who practiced such righteous suffering and violence onto another ultimately surcame to that violence he had previously imposed onto another.

(c) 2013 PublicSkeleton

As inspired by the article and subsequent comment by RoadToad below:

Cleveland kidnapper Ariel Castro found hanged after one month in jail

The Armed Syrian Conflict: June 14, 2013 CRS Report for Congress (RL33487)

The Federation of American Scientist has made available a report dated June 14, 2013, titled, “Armed Conflict in Syria: U.S. and International Response” which contains a concise analysis of issues pertaining to Syria.

The report was prepared by authors Jeremy M. Sharp, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs and Christopher M. Blanchard, Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs, and contains historical as well as current information to include past and current congressional action and military conflict analysis, relevant population and refugee figures, graphics, to include: secular, military, insurgent, and regime breakdowns, including their associated flags, GDP, surrounding national impact analysis, and maps of the region(s) involved.

The report contains core information from which to continue further analysis of the region as it pertains to the current contemplation of U.S. military involvement.

Below is the index and summary sections of the report.

Index

  • Assessment (1)
  • Status of Ongoing Armed Conflict (2)
  • Possible Questions for Congressional Oversight on Recent Events (4)
  • Key Developments (8)
  • Debating the Expansion of U.S. Civilian and Military Assistance (8)
  • International Conference on Syrian Political Settlement (11)
  • Can the Syria Civil War be Stopped? (12)
  • Status of the Syrian Political Opposition (12)
  • Al Qaeda, Extremism, and Foreign Fighters (14)
  • U.S. Policy and Issues for Congress (9)
  • The Syria Uprising and Civil War: U.S. Response, 2011-Present (9)
  • Debating U.S. Intervention (12)
  • U.S. Assistance (13)
  • Securing Syrian Weapons Stockpiles (15)
  • Outlook and Future Policy Considerations for Congress (18)
  • Possible Appropriations and Authorization Issues (18)
  • Securing Weapons Supplies and Sites (19)
  • Addressing Syria’s State Sponsor of Terrorism Status (20)
  • Other Questions for Congressional Oversight (21)

Summary

The popular-uprising-turned-armed-rebellion in Syria is in its third year, and seems poised to continue, with the government and a bewildering array of militias locked in a bloody struggle of attrition. The Obama Administration has signaled a pending expansion of U.S. civilian and military assistance to the opposition in the wake of the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that President Bashar al Asad’s forces used chemical weapons in limited attacks in recent months. U.S. officials and many analysts have asserted that President Asad and his supporters will be forced from power, but few offer specific, credible timetables for a resolution to the crisis. Further escalation in fighting or swift regime change could jeopardize the security of chemical and conventional weapons stockpiles, threaten minority groups, or lead to wider regional conflict.

Opposition forces are formidable, but regime forces, backed by Hezbollah fighters and Iranian and Russian material support, have initiated successful tactical counteroffensives in recent weeks. The Syrian military continues to use air strikes, artillery, and pro-government militias in punishing attacks on areas where rebels operate. Some members of Syria’s Sunni Arab majority and of ethnic and sectarian minority groups view the conflict in communal, zero-sum terms. U.S. officials believe that fighting would likely continue even if Asad were toppled.

Amid extensive damage to major urban areas and reports attributing war crimes to government and opposition forces, the fighting has created a regional humanitarian emergency. Some estimates suggest more than 90,000 Syrians have been killed since unrest began in March 2011. As of June 14, more than 1,638,102 refugees had fled Syria amid United Nations projections the total may reach 3.5 million by years end. According to U.N. estimates, as many as 4.25 million Syrians may be internally displaced. U.N. agencies have launched their largest ever humanitarian assistance appeal– seeking $4.4 billion for the Syria crisis in 2013. The United States has provided more than $513 million in humanitarian assistance to date.

President Obama and his Administration have been calling for Asad’s resignation since August 2011, and have pressed the United Nations Security Council to condemn the Syrian government. The United States has recognized the National Coalition of Revolution and Opposition Forces (SC) as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and has provided nonlethal assistance to the Coalition and an affiliated Supreme Military Council (SMC). The Obama Administration believes that a negotiated political settlement is required and has prepared military plans to secure Syria’s stockpiles of chemical weapons, if necessary.

Some observers advocate for more robust civil and military aid to the SC and SMC as a means of forcing the Asad regime to the negotiating table. Opponents of this approach argue that making opposition groups more formidable could intensify the fighting and risks empowering extremists. Some armed opposition factions, including powerful Islamist coalitions, reject negotiation.

After two years of unrest and violence, the central question for policy makers remains how best to bring the conflict in Syria to a close before the crisis consigns the region to one of several destructive and destabilizing scenarios. The human toll of the fighting, and the resulting political, ethnic, and sectarian polarization, all but guarantee that political, security, humanitarian, and economic challenges will outlast Asad and keep Syria on the U.S. agenda for years to come.

Link

About FAS

The following is a description about the FAS as posted on their website.

The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) works to provide science-based analysis of and solutions to protect against catastrophic threats to national and international security. Specifically, FAS works to reduce the spread and number of nuclear weapons, prevent nuclear and radiological terrorism, promote high standards for nuclear energy’s safety and security, illuminate government secrecy practices, as well as track and eliminate the global illicit trade of conventional, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. FAS was founded in 1945 by many of the Manhattan Project scientists who wanted to prevent nuclear war and is one of the longest serving organizations in the world dedicated to reducing nuclear threats and informing the public debate by providing technically-based research and analysis on these issues.

FAS.org

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